Shippers’ Academy Colombo organises first exclusive program on all aspects of modern warehousing sol

• Towards a new age distribution centre – making Sri Lanka a hub in the Indian ocean

Warehousing and warehouse management are part of a logistics management system, which is itself a component in supply chain management. 

Although viewed by some as simply a place to store finished goods, inbound functions that prepare items for storage and outbound functions that consolidate, pack and ship orders provide important economic and service benefits to both the business and its customers. The objective of a logistics system is to reduce cycle times and overall inventories, lower costs and most importantly, improve customer service. 

Warehousing increases the utility value of goods by providing a means to have the right products available at the right place in the right time. Operations such as order consolidation, order assembly, product mixing and cross-docking that take place within the warehouse structure also add value to the overall logistics system.

A warehouse provides a central location for receiving, storing and distributing products. As each inbound shipment arrives, responsibility for the goods transfers to warehouse personnel, products are identified, sorted and dispatched to their temporary storage location. 

Storage isn’t a static “thing” but rather a process that includes security measures and maintaining an environment that preserves the integrity and usefulness of the items. Once it’s time to move items, each order is retrieved, grouped, packaged and checked for completeness before being dispatched to their new destination. 

Warehouses can serve as part of a contingency plan to ensure outbound orders are filled in full and on time. A practice called safety stocking allows businesses to maintain a predetermined number of inventory items at its warehouse. 

On the inbound side, safety stocking means that an emergency such as a transportation delay or a shipment containing defective or damaged goods won’t delay filling and shipping customers’ orders. On the outbound side, safety stocking is insurance against out-of-stock items.

Economic and service benefits for Sri Lanka

Warehouses provide economies of scale through efficient operations, storage capacity and a central location. Economic benefits are realised, for example, through consolidation and accumulation operations. Consolidation operations cut outbound delivery costs for both the business and its customers. 

Instead of shipping items individually from multiple sources, items are delivered to a central warehouse, packaged together and shipped back out as a complete order. Accumulation operations allow a warehouse to act as a buffer, balancing supply and demand for seasonal and long-term storage. 

This can be vital to business profitability when demand for a product is year-round but the product may only be available at certain times of the year. Sri Lanka being at the right location in the Indian Ocean is an ideal geography to expand this logistics services for the role of a regional hub.

The focus of the program is to give an insight into the following areas of: Understand modern racking systems, modern warehouse designs, docking/bay facilities, modern equipment for warehouses, IT solutions for efficient management, how can one upgrade the existing warehouses? Cost effective solutions, why warehousing should be outsourced? Building new warehouses what to know, can unit cost be reduced? Manpower reduction and efficient solutions for speed.

The event will be held on 29 August at the Ramada Hotel Colombo 3, two international speakers/ presenters from the United States and India will present. Interested parties may contact the Shippers’ Academy Colombo Ltd., on 07738207003/0113560844 or e-mail: [email protected], website: www.shippersacademy.lk.